Corset storage bag - and how you can make one, too!

Hello again!

I'm back, to show you all my latest project I told you about the other day.
After making my corset, I found I needed something to keep it in. You know, to keep it free from dust and to protect it from anything that could harm it, like zippers or velcro. Something good for travelling, too. I needed a storage bag of some sort, and here it is!

I drafted a pattern for it myself, after measuring the length of my corset. It is really just a simple drawstring bag, with a round bottom. It is made from two layers, and all raw edges are encased for a clean look. I used plain white cotton, but I bet a nice 1880s lady would have had a silk bag for her corset.

I knew I wanted some embellishment on it, and first considered doing a monogram like on the chemise. But then I remembered my tatting. Wouldn't it be nice with a little bit of me-made lace? Yes:) (funnily, I now want to put tatted edges on everything...)

I think it turned out super cute, and I am very happy with it. It made up in a couple of hours, and looking at it, I think it would be great for other things, too. Like storing shoes in, perhaps. Maybe as a gift wrapper, something to stick a winebottle into, to give to a friend?

So, although I know you are all capable of making up your own stuff, I've decided to add a little how-to if anyone want to make their own storage bag :) It is a quick, easy project, perfect for a beginner sewist.

For one bag, you will need:

• two rectangles (50x60cm), and two circles (20cm in diameter) in the fabric of your choice
• two metal eyelets/grommets
• a ribbon about two feet long

Here's how you do it:

1. Stitch together the shorter sides of your rectangles, 1 cm seam allowance. Press seams.
2. Pin or baste one of the round pieces to each of your tubes (making sure the raw edges are facing the same way). You now have to bag-like objects.
3. Set eyelets in your outer bag. Place them about 1" (2.5cm) apart, and 9cm from the (raw) top edge. (I placed mine at the center front, the side seam of the bag is center back.)
4. Take one of your bags, and turn it wrong side out. Put the other bag inside the first, so that right sides are facing each other and you can see raw edges both inside and outside of your bag.
5. Line up the side seam of your two bags, and the top edge, neatly. Stitch together at top, leaving a 2" (5cm) gap.
6. Turn your bag right sides out, through the gap in the top. You now have one long sausage-like object with all raw edges enclosed. Tuck the one half that doesn't have eyelets, inside of the other, to form a bag. Press the top edge, and hand stitch the gap closed from the right side.
7. On the outside of your bag, mark the stitching lines for the drawstring channel. Measure from the top edge, and have your eyelets centered between the two lines. Mine are approx. 2cm apart. Do not place the lines too close to the eyelets, or you will have trouble with your presser foot hitting (and sliding off of) the eyelet when stitching. I used my zipper foot for the seam, which enables the seam to get quite close to the eyelet.
8. Thread the channel with a suitable ribbon.

Congratulations! You have made a corset storage bag!!

The Golden Jubilee Corset - LM#100 Silverado pattern

Finally!
King Winter arrived in the wee hours this morning, and sprinkled us with glorious white snow. And that usually means light enough to get half decent photos taken! (But rather typically; by the time I was all dolled up and laced in, daylight was fading...)

My victorian chemise and drawers have been waiting for this moment for several weeks already, but my corset got it's last stitches done on Sunday. I still haven't flossed it, due to a lack of a long enough hand sewing needle and silk thread. But other than that, I think it's done!

The corset is made from three (!) layers of coutil. The fancy outer coutil seemed a bit stretchy and unstable, so I basted it together with a layer of strong white cotton coutil. I also used this as my lining. In hindsight I could have used something lighter for lining, but I didn't have anything suitable in Le Stash. I used some lighter cotton fabric for my second muslin lining, and that ended up showing the inside seam allowances which wasn't a good look. At least, this corset is very sturdy, you could probably hoist a horse with it :)

This particular corset pattern has bust gores, which means there are six layers of fabric at the seams, meeting up in the gore points. Bulk festival.
I tried to grade down the seams as much as possible, so there wouldn't be any pressure points over my ribs. I can just feel a small lump at the gore nearest the front when I wear it. I just hope it doesn't end up being painful. I wore it for a couple of hours, and it felt fine. Fingers crossed.

All the inside seam allowances are cast over by hand. It took a whole day, but it was strangely satisfying.

Mid-construction. Hand cast seams, and in the process of putting in the waist stay.

When I decided on my project, which dates from 1887, I did some research on what was big in the news this particular year. As it turns out, Queen Victoria herself had her Golden Jubilee this very year, so I decided to honour the dear gal with a small token inside my corset :)

The little embroidery was done on the lining fabric before assembly. I just made a quick rough sketch with a marking pen, and free-handed it. It is the same style as the monogram on the chemise. I was afraid the crown would look like a chimp doodle, but I am happy to see it actually resembles a little crown.

I just love it when the stars align like that, my corset coutil and the golden busk and grommets were all chosen before I learned about the Royal Jubilee. It would seem like some costume sewing fairy godmother is watching over this project! Oh, may it last!

Making a corset isn't difficult, but it is a lengthy process with many steps. The pattern adjusting and the fittings are the most important ones, and I think one needs to make quite a few corsets to get it right. I am pleased with my first proper corset, but I learned loads of things I will do differently on the next one. Plus, I need to get more practice with things like grommet setting and working with densly woven fabrics in multiple layers.

If I am to say anything about the Laughing Moon pattern, I highly recommend it for first time corsetiers. It has patterns for everything you see me wearing in these photos (not the silk robe), so good value for money. The instructions are very good, too. If you are looking for a big waist reduction, I find this pattern to be not very curvy. I added a lot of hip spring to the pattern pieces, and still wish I had some more. But those are fitting steps everyone need to do for themselves in the muslin stage, so totally normal.

The chemise and drawers pattern is also nice, but I don't like the rounded shapes on the chemise front yoke, just over the bust. It looks odd to me, because it doesn't mirror the shape of the corset top. Personal preference, I guess, my next one will be shaped differently. And have lots more lace!! Other than that, it has a nice close fit at the top that will not add any unnecessary bulk under bodices.

I also got a lesson today about lacing oneself into a corset when your chamber maiden has her day off. It is hard. I broke a sweat, and my arms nearly fell off. And a mirror just makes it worse! I guess it gets better with practice, but I wish I could have gotten it tighter, and a bit more even for the photos. Oh well.

If you managed to read your way down here, you are a champ!
Next up, wire bustle and heaps of petticoats!!!

LM#100 - Silverado corset muslin #2

Hello friends!

I tell you, this corset sewing business has been just awesome! I am really enjoying myself and learning lots along the way.

After making some small adjustments to my first muslin, I cut out all (32!) new pieces for the second one. I used some poly-blend upholstery fabric for the outside, and plain cotton muslin for the lining. I tried it on midway, and didn't feel it was the perfect fit. However, a corset without boning is a different animal to a finished one, so despite seeing some points for improvement, I decided to finish it just to get some practice with the grommets/eyelets, the waist tape, lining and spiral steel.

Adding the waist stay.

I used continous spiral steel boning, cut and tipped them myself. It was not hard at all, and I recommend getting this opposed to the pre-cut lenghts. Cheaper, too! For this corset I used three meters of spiral steel.
I didn't think of ordering flat steel boning for the back, so I had to improvise. I used hacksaw blades with the teeth sanded off, and it worked fine for the outer edge, but the one inside of the eyelets (if that makes sense) needs to go. If you look closely at the side view, you can see that my back looks very straight where there should be a hollow. The blade is flexible, but still too straight and broad for that placement. There's actually room behind it, and I can press it in with a finger...

Uhm...is that a baseball bat up your back?

I am quite pleased with the fit. When I tried it without the boning, it seemed too long because it doubled over itself at the waist, and it was also very loose at the bust. I switched from the A-cup bust gores to the B-cup on this muslin, and debated whether I should switch back again. I ended up keeping the Bs.

After inserting all the boning, I see that the length is perfect and the extra room in the bust allows for tightening at the waist. Some reviews of this pattern claims that the bust gores are "all wrong" but I got my own opinion on this matter. I think, the gores are not meant for the boobage but rather for the ribs. They start just at the edge of my ribcage, and give me room to take a full breath (high in my lungs) and there is no excessive compression or hot spots over my ribs at all. My bust is nicely cradled within the corset, and there is no "spillage".
If I am to be very critical, the outer gore could use just a teeny tiny adjustment to make it a tad more close fitting and give it a more correct curve.


I am also a bit bothered by the way the bottom front edge sticks out, although this is probably invisible when wearing a gown (or even just the undergarments). When ordering my supplies, I was tempted to get a spoon busk, but some say they are notoriously uncomfortable. I opted for the regular straight steel busk for this first corset, but I *need* to try the spoon busk some time. Love the shape it gives!

I can rather easily-ish lace this corset all shut, and it gives me a 27" waist, so a 3-4" reduction.
I have at least an inch more of squish, but I am ok with the reduction that this corset gives me.

Now that I know I can tackle this pattern, I am itching to get swinging with my Belle Coutil fabric, the lace and the nice stuff. It's so gorgeous!!!! (and I am terrified of ruining it!!!!!!!!!!!!!!)
I think I'll do one more muslin, though...

By the way, does anyone know if you should pretreat your corset coutil? I pretreat all my fabric, but seeing that a corset is not to be washed, do you still need the pretreating bit? (Not being lazy, just being utterly insane, thinking my washing machine will mince it. I think I need wine.)

Victorian corset muslin #1

Hello again!

As I mentioned in the last post, I've dived into making my first Victorian corset!
To be fair, I really should make the chemise and drawers first (the things that goes under the corset), but it turns out getting cotton batiste in my country is near impossible. I've found some cotton stuff that's fairly light weight without being a voile, but I'm still not sure it is light enough. But it will do as muslin for the chemise, I'm sure.
I am also not finding the trim I want, so for now, I am tackling the corset.

A thing of extreme beauty.
Victorian silk corset, 1876
Met

I ordered my corset supplies from Vena Cava Designs in the UK, and it was like Christmas eve in Casa Pinhouse the day it arrived. I chose to use the Laughing Moon #100 pattern, as it comes with patterns for two different corsets and also drawers and chemise, so all in one. I've heard good things about this pattern, so hopefully it will serve me good :)

source

I opted for the Silverado corset (B), with bust gores. I immediately noticed how straight it looked, and after reading a few reviews I decided to add some width in the hips. I drafted the size 12 and added about 2" overall at the bottom.

It sewed up like a dream, and it was fun setting the busk and seeing it take shape. I didn't add any boning besides the busk and one straight steel bone on each back edge. I didn't set any metal eyelets either, because I knew this corset would be taken apart again. I made buttonholes instead, and it worked ok for the initial fitting. I used some polyester cord from the hardware store for lacing.
The fabric is some aweful beaver nylon I had in my stash, but it was non-stretch and heavy duty, and served the purpose like a champ :)

So this is how the first muslin came out.

It is buckling at the bust and twisting at the back, because it lacks boning, but also because it is a bit tight in the ribs, and rides down. The waist size is what I want it to be (I compared it with an underbust corset I have that has a great fit) but there's still too little room in the hips. When tightening a corset, the waist will squish, but the hips won't to that degree because of your skeletal structure, so the tighter the corset, the bigger the hips get in relation to the waist. This also applies to the ribs, so the smaller the waist, the more flare you need top and bottom in the corset itself.

The length is good, I think, and I like the shape of the edges of the corset. It is comfortable when sitting, so no need to make any changes there. I've drafted new pattern pieces now, with even more room in the hips, and some in the top too. I have been careful to add width all around, and not just in the sides on the hips, or just in the bust front, as this would throw off the front-to-back balance of the corset, and it would skew and twist when tightened. So we'll see if my reasoning on this matter is correct :)

I don't want it to lace all shut, but it may seem that it now has too big of a gap. All that will change once there is more room in top and bottom, so I am excited to try on the second mock up.

Stay tuned for more corset shenanigans, OH AND A DRESS!!! Yes :)